


Tick-Tock

by Sinelaborenihil



Category: Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:47:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27656387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sinelaborenihil/pseuds/Sinelaborenihil
Summary: This was inspired by the Dragon Age Subreddit writing prompt: “Time is ticking…” & “Tick tock, tick tock…” & “What is your decision? Remember… every choice has a consequence.”The encounter with Taliesen always ends in at least 1 TPK per playthrough for me, and this idea popped into my head upon reading the prompt. Taliesen is such a tool I could totally see him pulling this. It's a bit rough as I wrote it in the last couple hours, but I hope you enjoy!
Relationships: Zevran Arainai/Female Surana
Comments: 6
Kudos: 11





	Tick-Tock

Zevran had always known that the Crows would come for them. He had, after all, failed to carry out his contract and kill the last two Ferelden Gray Wardens. But he supposed, if he was honest with himself, that he had gotten complacent. Since joining Indira, Alastair, and their odd little party Zevran had seen and survived so much. Werewolves, trees that walked and spoke, the Deep Roads beneath Orzammar, the Battle for Redcliff. So many adventures, but now they had found him, and as he looked at the hard men who surrounded them, Zevran felt a flash of worry that he’d gotten Indira into an unwinnable situation. 

“So here is the mighty Gray Warden at long last,” Taliesen said from the top of the stairs. “The Crows send the greetings once again.”

Zevran looked up at his old friend and lover, feeling a pang of sadness. “So they sent you, Taliesen,” he said and felt oddly weary. “Or did you volunteer for the job?”

Indira glanced in his direction sharply, but he didn’t look at her. With her innumerable questions, she’d gotten the story of Taliesen and Rinna from him some time ago. He saw her hand tighten on her staff as she lifted her chin and fixed Taliesen with a dark look.

“I volunteered of course,” Taliesen replied. “When I heard that the great Zevran had gone rogue, I simply had to see it for myself.”

 _Naturally,_ Zevran thought. “Is that so?” he said aloud. “Well, here I am, in the flesh.”

“You can return with me, Zevran.” Taliesen’s tone turned wheedling, the way it often would when he wanted Zevran to give him the pleasures one learned to give growing up in an Antivan whorehouse. “I know why you did this and I don’t blame you. It’s not too late, come back and we’ll make up a story. Anyone can make a mistake.”

“Of course,” Indira interjected wryly. “I’d need to be dead first…”

Zevran’s stomach turned at the thought and he squared his shoulders, glaring up at Taliesen. “And that’s not likely to happen.”

The other man stared at him. “What? You’ve gone soft!”

“I’m sorry, my old friend, but the answer is no. I’m not coming back,” Zevran drew his blades and shot Indira a feral smile before looking back up at Taliesen. “And you should have stayed in Antiva.”

Then, the fight was on. Indira, Sten, and Alistair fought bravely, as they always did. However, Zevran soon saw that Taliesen had not made the mistake of underestimating them. The men that he brought were skilled and disciplined. Five of them ganged up on Sten, incapacitating the Qunari after a brutal fight that left one of them with what could easily be a fatal wound to his ribs. Another four were able to take out Alistair, pinning him to the ground with his own sword at his throat. Zevran had gotten separated from Indira, their fighting styles did not make for working in close proximity as she tended to hang back and cast her spells, and he saw with horror that she was surrounded. She fought like a demon, casting her Cone of Cold and managing to take out a couple of her assailants before Taliesen himself ducked under her staff and grappled with her. She had been sparring with Zevran, working to learn a little hand to hand so that she could defend herself in such a situation, but Taliesen was much bigger and stronger.

And, he was a Crow. 

Zevran froze as Taliesen put his blade to Indira’s throat and called for his own men to stand down. 

Indira was breathing hard, her eyes wide with fear and rage. 

“All right, Zevran,” Taliesen growled, barely breathing heavily. “You have thrown your tantrum. You put up your resistance.” His eyes narrowed. “But now it’s time to stop.” He pressed the blade a little more firmly against Indira’s throat. “We must return to Antiva and now, my friend, you have a choice.” He glanced down at Indira with a smile that put the hair on the back of Zevran’s neck up. “You can save her, Zevran. If you come home with us to face your punishment.”

“No!” Indira exclaimed, her eyes going wide. “Zevran, you know what they’ll do to you!”

“But what will we do to her, if you don’t?” Taliesen asked in a low, dangerous voice. “How Rinna died will be a blessing compared to what we will do to her, Zevran. And you’ll have to watch.”

“You don’t scare me!” Indira spat, though Zevran could see the fear in her eyes and hear it in her voice. 

“Don’t lie to the man,” Taliesen said, his lips close to her ear.

“Tell him no, Zevran!” Indira said, struggling against Taliesen. His blade cut her neck and it began to bleed, but she ignored it. Zevran, however, could not. He saw the oily sheen on the dagger and what’s more, he _knew_ Taliesen. 

Indira had just been poisoned.

Taliesen smiled at him and Zevran knew that the other man knew that Zevran had seen.

“Tick tock, tick tock…” Taliesen said. “What is your decision? Remember… every choice has a consequence.”

“Take me,” Zevran said, dropping his blades to the ground. “Give her the antidote, Taliesen, and take me. I swear to you that I will come quietly.”

“Antidote?” Indira’s eyes widened. “Zevran no! I don’t care-”

“But I do, amora,” Zevran said, not struggling as two of the men came to put him in manacles. The rough edges rubbed at his wrists, an intentional choice on the part of the smith who had made them. They were intended to cause pain. 

The Crows bound Indira with Sten and Alistair and by the time they were done Indira was starting to pant. Her dark skin was glossy with sweat as Taliesen stood over her, holding the tiny bottle of the antidote. 

“You have what you wanted, Taliesen,” Zevran said wearily. “Give her the antidote and let us have done.”

“You left us, you left _me_ for her?” Taliesen said. “Some little chit of a girl who can barely handle herself in a fight.” He glanced down at Indira and Zevran felt his blood run cold. “There is still a bounty on the Gray Wardens' head, you know. I could collect.”

“We had an agreement,” Zevran said, struggling to keep his voice calm. 

“You are no longer a crow,” Taliesen said bitterly. “I am not bound by any agreement I make with you.”

“Taliesen...please,” Zevran said, pitching his voice low and intimate in the way that had usually gotten him what he wanted from the other man in the past. He saw the other man’s eyebrow raise fractionally. “You have won. You have me back. I will never again try to escape. I am the Crows’...and _yours_ , forever, so long as you give her the antidote.” He forced himself to smile. “Consider it recompense for keeping the Crow’s valuable tool alive these many months.” 

Taliesen stepped away from where Indira was bound and approached him, nodding to the men who stood on either side of Zevran. They forced him to his knees, and even though he knew it was coming, Zevran still cried out when Taliesen’s boot struck his solar plexus. He fell backwards, gasping for air, and with his arms behind his back there was nothing he could do to ward off the furious series of blows. He could hear Indira screaming his name in the background as Taliesen punished him, and he hated the fear he heard in her voice.

 _Lo siento, Amora,_ he thought. _I never meant to cause you such pain._

And then he heard the other Crows begin to yell and felt something cold against his cheek.

Taliesen’s blows had stopped. 

Zevran opened his eyes and heard himself gasp. Taliesen was standing above him, one foot pulled back for another kick, literally frozen in place. A few feet away, Indira was panting and holding her staff in front of her with a hand that shook. Next to her Revasan was standing, wagging his stubby tail even as he growled at their attackers. Alistair and Sten had regained their feet as well, and dived for their weapons.

“I...I won’t let you take him away!” Indira forced out, her eyes not leaving Taliesen. Then, she let out a hoarse battle cry and there was a flash of green from the end of her staff.

Then Taliesen _shattered_ , little pieces of him raining down around Zevran as his friends renewed their attack on the Crows. 

It would have been a lie to say they made short work of the Crows as badly wounded as they all were. However, they did triumph in the end. Zevran felt strong hands pulling him upright as Sten unlocked the manacles with a key he’d taken from one of the bodies. He rubbed at his wrists and nodded to the Qunari, but Sten had already turned away to stabilize Indira, who was looking increasingly unwell. 

“Here,” Zevran said, reaching into one of his belt pouches. He pulled out a vial of the same antidote that Taliesen had been offering. His long association with Taliesen had familiarized Zevran with the other man’s poison preferences and he’d always known that if Taliesen was the one to come for him, it would pay to be prepared. 

It had just never occurred to him how much. 

Indira drank the antidote and pulled a face. Her color immediately improved and Zevran was gratified to see that she was breathing more easily as well. “Well that was awful,” she said, grinning as she looked up at him from under her eyelashes.

Zevran chuckled, something painful uncoiling within his chest. He felt as though he could breathe again as he pulled her to her feet and into a tight hug. “I am sorry, Indira,” he said, clutching her against himself.

She shook her head. “You don’t need to apologize,” she said, sounding alarmingly calm. “We always knew there was a chance they would come for you. I’m just glad that Revasan never quite got the meaning of ‘stay’ He was able to get me my staff once I’d burned the ropes.” She winced, looking down at her arm where a series of blisters spoke of a bad burn. “Though fire magic in close quarters was a risky move.”

“I, for one, would rather not be roasted alive in my armor,” Alistair said. “Can you imagine the smell?”

“That was a foolish risk, Kadan,” Sten added, frowning at the burn on Indira’s arm. “And now you are wounded.” 

Indira shrugged. “I’ll live,” she said. “Nothing a few health poultices won’t fix. Come on, let’s get out of here.”


End file.
